Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians

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Elisabeth of Bavaria (Elisabeth Gabriele Valérie Marie; 25 July 1876 – 23 November 1965) was

Family

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She was born in

, husband of Grand Duchess Charlotte and brother of Empress Zita, were among Elisabeth's first cousins.

An artist himself, Duke Karl-Theodor cultivated the artistic tastes of his family and Elisabeth was raised with a deep love for painting, music and sculpture. At her father's clinic, where her mother assisted him as a nurse, Elisabeth obtained exposure to productive labor and to human suffering, unusual for a princess of that time.

Married life and queenship

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In Munich on 2 October 1900, Duchess Elisabeth married Prince Albert I, second-in-line to the throne of Belgium (after his father Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders). Upon her husband's accession to the Belgian throne in 1909, Elisabeth became queen. The Congolese city of Élisabethville, today Lubumbashi, was named in her honor.

They first met in 1897 at the funeral of Elisabeth's aunt Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria, who was also the mother-in-law of Albert's sister Henriette. At the time, Prince Albert was the heir to his uncle Leopold II of Belgium. Albert was the second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a sister of King Carol I of Romania.

At birth, Albert occupied the third place in the line of succession behind his father and elder brother,

In December 1909, Albert and Elisabeth became King and Queen of the Belgians, following the death of Albert's uncle, King Leopold II. The new Queen took on a much more public role than her predecessors, getting involved with many charities and organizations, particularly those in the arts and social welfare. She often surrounded herself with famous authors and artists, as well as leading scientists of the day. Her friendly nature, and true care and concern for others, quickly endeared her to the people of Belgium.

When war broke out in 1914, Queen Elisabeth worked with the nurses on the front and helped establish the Symphony Orchestra of the field army. By the end of 1914, she gave Belgian King's Messenger Archibald A. Gordon alias Major Gordon the task to participate in the establishment of the Hospital L'Océan in La Panne. The Queen traveled frequently to the United Kingdom, under the pretext of visiting her children who were studying there. She was often bringing important messages and information to the British government from her husband and his forces. Following the war, the family made a triumphant return to Brussels and set about to rebuild the nation.

During the

From 23 September to 13 November 1919, the Queen, together with the King and

Elisabeth lived to see her son become king (but also go into exile and abdicate), her younger son become, effectively, regent of the realm, and her grandson mount the throne.

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As queen dowager, she became a patron of the arts and was known for her friendship with such notable scientists as Albert Einstein.^{[citation needed]}

During the

Queen Elisabeth died in Brussels at the age of 89 on 23 November 1965 from a heart attack. She is interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, Brussels. She was the 1,016th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.

Legacy

The city of Lubumbashi in Congo (Kinshasa) was formerly known as "Élisabethville", and it was named in her honor when it was founded in 1910 in what was then the Belgian Congo. It adopted its current name in 1966 when, after six years of wrangling following independence, Joseph Desire Mobutu ordered Belgian place names in Congo changed.

The Queen Elisabeth Competition, a longstanding international competition for career-starting classical musicians regularly held in Brussels, is named after her.^[7]

Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart created the Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth in honor of her visit to Tutankhamun's tomb on 18 February 1923.^[8] The association is now called Association Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth.

Children

• King Leopold III of Belgium, born 3 November 1901, and died at Woluwe-Saint-Lambert on 25 September 1983.
• Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, born Brussels 10 October 1903, and died at Ostend on 1 June 1983.
• Thonex, Switzerland
  , on 27 January 2001.

National

• Bavarian Royal Family: Dame of the Royal Order of Saint Elizabeth, 1st Class
•  Belgium: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold I

Foreign

• Austrian Imperial and Royal Family: Dame Grand Cross of the Imperial Austrian Order of Elisabeth, 1910^[9]
•  France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour, 14 November 1918^[10][11]
•  Empire of Japan: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown
•  Luxembourg: Dame of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau
•  Netherlands:
  • Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands
  • Queen Juliana Inauguration Medal
•  Poland:
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle^[12]
  • Cross of Valour Medal, 1922^[13]
• Spanish Royal Family: Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa, 24 June 1910^[14]
•  United Kingdom: Member of the Decoration of the Royal Red Cross
• Holy See: Dame of the Decoration of Honour

Awards

• International Red Cross and Red Crescent: Recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal
• Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations

Arms

• 
  Alliance Coat of Arms of King Albert I
  and Queen Elisabeth
• 
  Royal Monogram of Queen Elisabeth
  of Belgium

Ancestry

See also

• Queen Elisabeth Competition
• Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation

References